Please use my installation and assembly of HO Turnouts and track experience to make your job easier. It is important to ensure that the turnout assembly is laid on a perfectly flat base. Make sure there are no high points or dips if you want perfect tracking. The whole assembly can be tilted to any position, but the entire turnout area must have no high spots or dips.
The turnouts and crossings have been built electrically gapped for correct DC and DCC operation. After the turnout has been installed on the layout use a sliver of strong paper (like brown bag) super glued into the gaps and sanded down smooth to the rail. Do this step to insure that the gap does not close and cause shorting from temperature or physical changes in the track.
I have taken the step of painting all the wood ties with a brown/black scheme with a mist of white on them for some weathered effect. Use a Dremel brass wire wheel to clean a small spot of the paint off of a printed circuit tie at the proper locations, and solder your connection. Don’t get too close to the rail. You do not want to melt the solder connecting the rail to the tie. I use 22 gauge solid wire. Strip about 1/2 inch of the insulation from the end. Flatten about 3/8 inch of the end (pounded with a hammer or pinched with a strong pliers). A small tab of this (about 1/4 inch) is bent at a flat right angle. You should cut the length of wire to allow the wire to reach to your track power feed wires. I suggest you leave extra length and cut shorter later. Then complete connection by soldering the small tab onto the top of the previously cleaned PC tie. I use Pollyscale or MicroMark “railroad tie brown” to paint over the connection. The origanal paint on the wooden ties is a light spray of Rustoleum Camoflage Brown and Camoflage Black.
Planning the layout of your turnouts can be aided with the use of printed templates of these turnouts available for download from Fast Tracks Turnout Templates. After you mount the turnout assembly in it’s final position the rails should be carefully spiked (or Super Glued) to the wooden ties. Do this in as many spots as you want to secure the rails in place to protect against physical movement in the future, and/or to look good. I feel that spiking of some sort is necessary. The turnout rails are just Pliobond glued to the wooden ties. You can also use the templates to tell you where the PC board ties are located for electrical connections. And, this will show where not to try to spike into PC board ties. This saves having to probe for the top of thePC board ties.
A #35 hole has been centered and drilled into the throwbar of each turnout. Use a #40 or smaller piano wire activator to an under table throw mechanism. Again, I really like “Cobalt” motors from DCC Concepts, or “Tortoise” motors. “Cobalt” has built in extra contacts that are designed for appropriate track power switching. In older versions “Tortoise” advises against using their contacts for routing track power.
Mount the turnout in place. Take a very small fine file or nail file and touch up both switch points. Make sure that they are reasonably smooth against the stock rails so that wheel flanges run smoothly through the points. Assure that they are flat with the top of the stock rails.
You have now completed the Installation and assembly of HO Turnouts and track. Finally, You will only have to make your electrical connections and ballast. Paint the sides of rails for awesome weathered appearance.
Be sure to take a tour of all the videos that Tim Warris at “Fast Tracks” has put together on turnout construction at Fast Tracks Videos or other documentation available at Fast Tracks Documentation.